Main content

The Green Backlash

As the individual costs of the EU’s Green Deal are becoming clearer, why many voters across Europe are now backing parties that oppose green policies.

As the individual costs of the EU’s Green Deal are becoming clearer, many people across Europe say they are unwilling or unable to pay the price associated with it. Anna Holligan explores the increasing popularity of anti-green political parties across the continent. She talks to dairy farmers in the Netherlands, who fear government green targets would endanger a sector which makes the country the world's second biggest exporter of food. She also travels to Bremen in Germany where concern over the phasing out of new gas and oil boilers for houses, dubbed the “heating hammer” by the nation’s tabloids, has lead to the government slowing down the pace of change.

In the meantime, the city’s Green Party vote fell by almost half in recent local elections while Citizens in Rage, which is highly sceptical about how green deal policies are being implemented, came from almost nowhere to capture close to ten per cent of the vote. The experiences in both countries suggests that the political consensus that seemed to exist only four years ago when the EU announced its Green Deal targets seems to have broken down. What might the possible repercussions be on Europe’s politics and its approach to tackling climate change?

Produced by Bob Howard.

Release date:

Available now

29 minutes

Nazanin and the mystery of a decades old tank debt

Nazanin and the mystery of a decades old tank debt

Has an old tank debt with Iran cost Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe her freedom?

Seriously... Archive

Even more seriously interesting documentaries from Radio 4.

Seriously... Reads

Read more about some of the amazing stories in Seriously...

Podcast